what's happening? >> what's happening. jon, it's beautiful here, jon. friendly people. rich history. delicious food. i'm having a fantastic time >> jon: really? that's great >> not really, jon. of course not. have you been near a [bleep] television recently? things are pretty bad around here. look, i think it's important for us all to pause and note that it is clearly not the majority of muslims who are protesting in the streets. it's not even the majority of protestors who are getting violent. to put this in context, we should really remember islam's young age. >> jon: it's 1400 years old exactly, jon. in religious years islam is still just a teenager. put it in context. think what christianity was doing when it was only 1400 years old.

>> jon: no, that's not... ( cheers and applause ) >> jon: yeah, i guess that is. .. >> exactly. bloody crusades, the inquisition, execution of hair ticks. christianity is just lucky there weren't cell phones around then to film that [bleep]. >> jon: you know what? i mean, if you think about it, when judaism was still a teenager >> judaism, are you kidding me. on: yeah you people couldn't keep your teenage shofars in your tunics. begetting in canaan >> jon: begetting in babylon. we were begetting so much we couldn't even stand on a mountain without having to hold a tablet in front of our... you know what i mean? >> you people nearly begat yourselves blind. the point is is, jon, there is good news. that is that religions grow out of this awkward phase. again look at christianity. we've aged into young adulthood.

now we can all laugh about the time we used to burn young girls at the stake for being left-handed. or as we called it back then, witch craft. >> jon: yeah, i don't think that's so funny. >> jon, that's because your religion is... in fact, how old are you? >> jon: we're 5773 today. obviously you don't look a day over 5729. that's a fact. >> jon: we've been jogging. you're glowing. it's working. the point, jon, is that we need to be patient with islam. they do not have it easy. remember, most teenagers have some means of escape from their insecurity. they smoke pot. they experiment with sex. all night bacon parties. reformation. muslims can't do any of that stuff right now. >> jon: you're saying if we just wait 300 to 400 years >> half a millennium at most. jon: then there will be peace

peace? what? [bleep] no, jon. but if we're lucky, we will finally stop fighting over real or imagined insults to our religions and go back to fighting over what really matters: natural resources and arbitrary lines on maps. ( cheers and applause ) >> jon: john oliv

>> jon: welcome back to the show. as we've seen seeing, a lot of unrest and anger in the middle east this past week. the condemnation of obama has been swift and furious >> this leading from behind obama doctrine is up in flames >> terrorists believe they can attack our embassy with impunity, they believe the killr ambassador and there will be no response >> how much longer can we afford to spill our blood and treasure trying to, quote unquote, promote democracy in places that do not have any values for civilized society. >> jon: yes. democracy promotion is wrong. that's a somewhat isolationist position, ex-governor palin. does anyone see our role in the world differently?

yes, you 2008 still governor palin >> i see our role in the world as one of being a force for good, to help these rising smaller democratic countries that are just, you know, they're putting themselves on the map right now >> jon: what a bold freedom agenda. it's a little bit naive. i mean, think of the blow-back >> egyptians elected a muslim brotheredhood member to head their country. let's not forget. this is very first place in the middle east that president obama promised to bring, quote democracy too >> jon: you believe through the prism of history people will look back at obama and this shift of freedom, efforty and democracy in the middle east and he'll be viewed as myopic >> through the prism of history we'll look back at george w. bush and see this shift toward freedom, liberty and democracy in the middle east and elsewhere in the world and he will be viewed as a great visionary >> jon: full throated defense of

the value of democracy >> the meade cora and our government, democracy. this is a good thing. and i'm sitting here saying, all right. what is going to take over? it was obviously the muslim brotherhood was the only group that had any political clout. >> jon: young not as fat you. all right. i guess you can't just let people depots their own dictators in the name of democracy. >> we have at least some hope for peace in the middle east and democracy. certainly better than what they have. >> jon: i got to tell you something. i love it when that conservative patriot guy pulls on that naive leftist deutch bag. what's the name of that show in hannity and takes the opposite position the younger hannity. it's a great show. that's great television.

now listen to me, we could go all night. we could go all night bringing up examples of pundits on the right who couldn't do enough to promote democracy in the middle east as long as it was done at the end of george bush's jaunt. as middle eastern countries choose leaders for themselves lordy lordy, it's not enough. why don't we talk through an actual middle east policy >> americans today are seeing a mess on their television screens. there's unleaving throughout the middle east. >> got a real mess on our hands. in part because of the policies of president obama over the last several years in the region >> jon: that's foreign policy advisor to mitt romney and mr. ryan dan senor, decrying the middle east messiness. why don't you rebut him, chief spokesman for the coalition provisional authority in iraq, a more junior dan senor >> democracy we often said when we were there that democracy is messy. if you want clean and tidy there's dictatorship but right

now these iraqis political leaders are immersed in their first sort of democratic experiment >> jon: i get you, man. it was the early to mid, man. everybody was experimenting with democracy then. what's up? you know what [bleep] i'm out of here. just go at it, you two. >> just a reminder of the chaos that a lot of the policies of this administration have sowed. chaos in the arab spring. chaos for allies in israel. there are certainly areas that are problematic. we are having some tough days. we'll have tough days ahead. what we've seen in the last three days is a product of policies that have been building over the last three years. if we are successful in building some modicum democracy, it will be an enormous success. you think the president's policy in the middle east has been a success. looks like a disaster to most americans. there has been significance violence in recent weeks. certainly today's tragic death of over 30 people but it also correlates with progress on the political track.

disaster. progress. chaos. disaster. progress. ( cheers and applause ) >> jon: wow. one man's chaos is another man's progress. here's the thing that i really find the most troubling. how can one man's opinion shift so drastically and yet his hairline stays exactly the same? i can't tell if these guys are cynical, clueless or in denial. we will be right 4h$h

( cheers and applause )

>> jon: welcome back. my guest tonight, he was the 7th secretary-general of the united nations. most recently the u.n. and arab league envoy to syria. his new book is called interventions, a life in war and peace. please welcome to the program kofi annan. ( cheers and applause ) >> thank you, sir. nice to see you. >> jon: how are you? thanks for joining us. the book is called interventions. let me ask you this. how's the world? >> messy. jon: it is messy. it is messy. jon: you have been following these events for a very long time. would you say in your estimation on the kofi annan scale of peace in our time to "oh, my god, run!

"where would you say the world is right now? >> you're close to run. jon: really? more than in previous times, even the bosnian conflict, people were involved in >> today we have syria's problem in the middle east and the whole region. if syria has a miscalculation can really create a problem, we will not be able to handle. syria is divided. we know civil war is going on. the region is divided. and the security council, that supposed to be responsible for international peace is also divided. this make it very difficult to try and bring a solution. that's why i've been encouraging unity of the council, for them to make an effort and really work in a very volatile region of the world >> jon: let me ask you this.

the security council, two questions. who is to blame? i want names. (laughing) two, even if they were unified, what would they do? what could they do? could they do anything other than issue a proclamation to syria to say, come on. >> i think there is quite a bit they can do. if they were to come together and begin to put pressure on the government in the region to work with them, to pressure both sides and put a proposal on the table that there has to be a political transition, political settlement and really give them an idea of what that would entail. we tried to do that in geneva on the 30th of june when we held a meeting where the foreign ministers of the permanent members of the u.n. were there. secretary clinton was there. russia, all of them were there. we agreed on principles and guidelines for political settlement which i had expected

them to come to new york and endorse. it hasn't been endorsed up to today >> jon: why is russia reluctant to endorse? >> i think actually on this one the problem was not on the russian side >> jon: let's just blame them. (laughing) jon: obviously the show is on american television. i'm sure when you visit the russian tv show, you can lay it at our feet. >> we complain that the russians and the chinese have vetoed and blocked us from taking action >> jon: that's right but i still don't know what specific effective action we are going to take on the ground that the russians and the chinese blocked. if today they were to say, okay, we have no objections, what are we going to do? and this is the question >> jon: okay. because if you're asking me, we have a terrible problem here. but have world events gotten

outside of the control of the leading powers or do we have a mistaken nostalgic view of what countries were really able to do and influence even in the past? how did these always... haven't these always arisen? >> i think you've always had that problem but during the cold war the cold war, the true powers could influence countries. there was some control. at the collapse of the soviet union, the council became a bit more harmonious and they could take positions. so the u.n. and the peace-keeping forces began being intre deuced into civil war situations >> jon: in some ways the democratization of the region, the rise of democracy, the collapse of the soviet union, has created much of this unrest. we are going to have to perhaps live with the volatility until the next world war.

>> and when is that going to be jon: believe me, i've got things in mind. will you stick around so we can talk a little bit more about the book and your rise to the top of the u.n. and all that? if you would. i'd appreciate that very much. we'll be right back. "intervention: a life in war and peace" is on the book shelves now. we'll have more with kofi annan on the

that's our show. before we go, i just want to mention something real quick. as you know on this program we have at times poked a bit of fun at... ummm... fox news. well, that being the case, i have been challenged to a debate by one of their pundit-news hybrid man >> big announcement about me and jon stewart. in order to illuminate the vital issues associated with the upcoming presidential election.

stewart and i will debate, man to man, eye to eye... well, not really. ( cheers and applause ) >> jon: i'm so scared. bill o'reilly wants to tango, so i say this. i accept, mr. o'reilly. i shall meet you in the square. for an old-fashioned dual of witts. obviously he and i... there had be some discussion and compromises made. he has demanded that we speak at podiums. i have asked for crazy straws. we will do this in our nation's capital, washington d.c. it will be on october 6. you can join us live in the theater or it will be streamed on the internet for $4.95. you can watch a live web cast. obviously all the information is

available on this website, the daily show or on the rumble 2012 dot-com. we've made some compromises. 50% of the money will go to charity. 50% of the money will go to supply-side job creation. whatever. it's happening, people. it's on. here it is your moment of zen >> the thing i like about you is you do take cheap shots all the time but you defend those cheap shots >> that's not the only thing you like about me. i'm like a shot of levittown right in your ass like a b-12. boom. captioning sponsored by comedy central captioned by media access group at wgbh access.wgbh.org

>> stephen: tonight, new trouble for the romney campaign, get ready for the rafalka sex tape. (laughter) and a major legal victory for apple. but it will be replaced with a faster, slimmer legal victory in six months. (laughter) then, my guest, jeffrey toobin is here to talk about obama's relationship with the supreme court. i hear it's under the robe; over the gavel. (laughter) wal-mart is turning 50 years old. it's finally old enough to be a greeter at itself. (laughter) this is "the colbert report." captioning sponsored by comedy central ( theme song playing )